Acoustical and luminous ceiling structure



Sept. 8, 1964 M. c. ROSENBLATT ACOUSTICAL AND LUMINOUS CEILING STRUCTURE Filed March 12, 1962 INVHVTOR.

M rToiuyEys United States Patent 3,147,926 ACOUSTICAL AND LUMINOUS CEILING STRUCTURE Maurice C. Rosenblatt, 91 Central Park W., New York 23, N.Y. Filed Mar. 12, 1962, Ser. No. 179,053 3 Claims. (Cl. 240-9) This invention relates to acoustical and luminous ceil ing structures.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved ceiling of the class wherein a substantial area of the ceiling is made of material which is translucent and which has lights located above the translucent material to produce effective lighting of a room with light from lowintensity sources.

Another object is to provide a ceiling of the character indicated with sound-absorbing structures associated with the luminous panels of the ceiling so that the luminous ceiling is also an acoustical ceiling for making the room more quiet.

Features of the invention relate to supporting means for holding both the panels and the acoustical material; and the parts are constructed so that the ceiling is inexpensive to install and made of parts that can be assembled and connected by lathers, thus eliminating the necessity of having employees belonging to different unions for the installation of the invention when done by union labor.

In the preferred construction, the acoustical material is carried in trays having foraminous bottoms and/or walls, and having the extending sides that serve as supports for the edge portions of the luminous panels.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of a ceiling made in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a bottom plan view, on a greatly-reduced scale, of the ceiling construction shown in FIGURE 1;

' FIGURE 3 is a detail view of one of the clips used for connecting the supports to the purlins;

3,147,926 Patented Sept. 8, 1964 level, horizontal course. There are similar purlins 24 at spaced locations across the room, as indicated diagrammatically in FIGURE 2.

Supports 30 are located below the purlins 24, and these supports 30 extend horizontally at right angles to the direction of extent of the purlins 24. The supports 30 FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 I of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a detail, sectional view through the perforated metal sheet material from which the supports of this invention are constructed;

FIGURE 6 is a detail, sectional view showing a modified construction of the invention;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of two of the supports, shown in the other figures, with a connector for joining abutting ends of the supports together; and

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view on the line 88 of FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 1 shows a hung ceiling which is connected with an overhead building structure 10 by hangers 12. These hangers have top brackets 14 embedded in, or secured to, the structure 10 by fastenings 16. The hangers have lower brackets 18 which are connected with the brackets 14 by bolts 20 extending through slots in the brackets to permit adjustment of the bracket 14 in accordance with the intended distance of the hung ceiling from the overhead building structure 10.

A purlin 24 is attached to the lower bracket 18 by a bolt 26. It will be understood that the purlin 24 is supported at longitudinally-spaced locations along its length by similar hangers 12, and these respective hangers are adjusted so as to make the purlin extend along a are parallel to one another and they are spaced from one another to accommodate light diffusers 32 between the different supports 30.

Each of the supports is preferably a perforated metal form. The perforations may consist of small openings 33, as shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 4, or the form 30 may be made of metal similar to expanded metal. A sectional view of such a sheet of metal is shown in FIG- URE 5 where portions of metal are displaced to form louvers 34- without removing any metal from the sheet. This leaves openings 36 adjacent to each of the louvres and through which air and sound waves can pass; but the surface is decorative and the openings are not readily apparent.

The forms 30 are supported from the purlins 24 by spring clips 40 (FIGURE 1). Each of these clips 40 is of substantially U-shaped outline with the mid portion of the clip wide enough to span the top surface of the purlin 24. The clips 40 have their free ends bent to form rightangular sections 42 which are inserted into openings 33 in side walls of the supports 30. These clips 40 are used to hold the supports 30 in contact with the purlins.

Each of the supports 30 has a bottom 48 and has side walls 50. The bottom 48 is preferably wider than the spacing between the side walls 50 and the metal at the edges of the bottom is folded back to form ledges or shoulders 52 along both sides of each support 30. In practice, a depth not greater than inch has been found sufiicient for the ledges or shoulders 52. This value is given by way of illustration. In the construction shown in FIGURE 1, the metal is folded back along an are 54; but is preferably bent upwardly at a sharp right angle at the juncture of the shoulder 52 with the side wall 50. It will be understood that in the preferred construction the side walls 50, the shoulders 52, the arcs 54, and the bottom 48 are all made of one piece of sheet material.

The light diffusers 32 rest on the shoulders 52 and they are held down against the shoulders 52 by antilofting cables 58 which may be continuous or in successive sections. The ends of cables or cable sections are connected with fixed supports. These cables prevent the light difiusers 32 from curling or from being lifted out of place or moved as a result of strong drafts of air in the room below the ceiling; but they can be lifted manually to permit removal of the diffusers 32 when it becomes necessary to replace lights in the plenum between the diffusers and the ceiling structure 10.

The light diffusers are preferably made of plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride, or similar plastic. The diffusers may have a corrugated contour, as shown in FIGURE 4, or they may have accordian pleats. When the width of the diffuser 32 is sufiiciently restricted, flat diffusers can be used; but corrugated and pleated diffusers have greater transverse stiffness and are used when the space between successive supports 30 is great enough to require the additional rigidity obtained by corrugating or pleating the plastic material of which the light diffusers 32 are made. The corrugated or pleated construction for the light diffusers has the additional advantage of producing a more decorative ceiling, and of making possible luminous ceilings having larger total areas of luminous surfaces.

There are lamps 65 supported by sockets 66 attached to housings 68 secured to the overhead structure 10. These lamps 65 are preferably luminous tubes and successive lights are used throughout substantially the entire length it of each light diffuser 32. Spaced incandescent lamps producing small areas of illumination on the light diffusers can be used, if desired, but the illumination from such lamps is less uniform and more expensive.

Each of the supports 30 is preferably filled with sound absorbing material 72. This material may be glass Wool batts, or various materials which are wellknown and commonly used for sound absorption, but rigid acoustical board, such as mineral wool heat insulation, is preferred.

The openings 33 and 36 permit unobstructed passage of sound waves through the support 30 and into the acoustical material 72. This material 72, resting on the sheet metal bottom 48, also reduces sound by clamping vibration of the metal bottom 48. Good results are obtained by having the open area of the bottom 48 between and 35% of the total area of the bottom 48. This same ratio of open area to sheet area applies to the entire sheet of the'support since the surface is of uniform construc tion throughout.

FIGURE 6 shows a modified construction in which a support 30' has a bottom 48' and a side wall 50'. This support has a ledge 52, but instead of the arcuate fold shown in FIGURE 1, the construction of FIGURE 6 has the edges of the support 30 bent up sharply at a right angle to form a lower side wall 7 8 which meets the outer edge of the shoulder 52 along a right-angle bend.

This construction of the support 30' is designed for use with a light diffuser 80 having an upwardly-extending edge portion 82 of a height substantially equal to the lower wall 78 of the support 30. The light diffuser 80 has an edge flange 84 extending across the ledge or shoulder 52' for supporting the diffuser 88 from the support 38. This construction makes the bottom face of the light diffuser 80-substantially flush with the bottom of the support 30'.

The support 30' is otherwise similar to the support 30 and has openings 33' through the sheet metal; and has sound-absorbing material 72' located in the support 30'.

FIGURES 7 and 8 show the construction by which sections of the support 30 are connected together. In a large ceiling, the supports 3%) may not be Wide enough to reach across the ceiling area and it becomes necessary to use more than one section. This is done by bringing successive sections together with their ends contacting along a butt joint 88. The successive sections 30 are then held in this relation by a connector 90 which has a shape similar to that of the supports 30 but of slightly smaller size so as to telescope into the supports 30 in the manner shown in FIGURE 8. The connector 90 can be located so as to have substantially one half of its length telescoped into each of the abutting sections of the support 30. Several butt joints 88 are shown in the ceiling illustrated in FIG- URE 2. At the ends of the ceiling area which are parallel to the supports 30, there is preferably a support located at the end of the area. I

At the sides of the ceiling area adjacent to the ends of the supports 30, these supports 30 are shown butted against a similar support 94 extending along the end of the area, to permit the supports 30 to join the support 94 at butt joints 98 where the bottom of each connector 90 can be flush with the bottom of the support 94; but simple angle sections can be used as end supports.

The preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made and some features can be used in different combinations without departing from the invention as de-' fined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An accoustical luminous ceiling construction including hangers extending down from an overhead structure, a plurality of spaced-apart and parallel purlins, metal frames of sheet material under the purlins and extending transversely of the purlins, each of the metal frames being of generally channel cross section with a relatively wide, horizontally-extending bottom and low upstanding side Walls, the channel frames being of much greater width than height and of much greater length than width, the bottom being perforated and having at least 20% of its area open and each of the side Walls having at least one row of perforations therethrough, sound absorbing material Within the channel in position to absorb sound waves that enter the channel through the perforations in the bottom of the channel, the sheet material of the bottom of the channel extending horizontally beyond the side walls of the channel at both sides thereof and then extending back again'immediately above the level of the bottom and joining with the lower ends of the side walls to form flanges for supporting light-transmitting panels, light-transmitting panels extending across the space between successive frames and supported by said flanges with the light-transmitting panels extending horizontally and at approximately the same level as the perforated bottom walls of the frames, at least two clips above the level of the light-transmitting panels and spaced fromone another lengthwise of each purlin and transversely of the channel and extending into perforations in the side Walls to support each frame from that purlin, and movable anti-lofting elements above the flanges and above both sides of each light-transmitting panel and extending lengthwise of the frames in position to hold said sides of each panel down on the flanges and to provide ease of replacement of burned out lamps.

2. The acoustical luminous ceiling construction describedin claim 1 characterized by the perforations having the sheet material displaced therefrom on one side of the perforation while leaving it connected at the other side whereby the displaced material forms louvers, the material being displaced toward the inside of the channel and the sound absorbing material in the channel resting on the louvers in the bottom of the channel.

3. The acoustical luminous ceiling construction described in claim 2 characterized by the open area of the bottom and side walls of the channels resulting from the displaced portions of the sheet metal being between 20% and 35% of the total area of the sheet from which the channel is made.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,334,484 Dunbar Nov. 16, 1943 1 2,641,433 Wright June 9, 1953 2,659,807 Wakefield Nov. 17, 1953 2,833,199 Wakefield May 6, 1958 2,882,558 Jacobson et al Apr. 21, 1959 2,972,044 Smith Feb. 14, 1961 2,978,571. Rosenblatt Apr. 4, 1961 3,019,332, Schiffer Jan. 30, 1962 

1. AN ACCOUSTICAL LUMINOUS CEILING CONSTRUCTION INCLUDING HANGERS EXTENDING DOWN FROM AN OVERHEAD STRUCTURE, A PLURALITY OF SPACED-APART AND PARALLEL PURLINS, METAL FRAMES OF SHEET MATERIAL UNDER THE PURLINS AND EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE PURLINS, EACH OF THE METAL FRAMES BEING OF GENERALLY CHANNEL CROSS SECTION WITH A RELATIVELY WIDE, HORIZONTALLY-EXTENDING BOTTOM AND LOW UPSTANDING SIDE WALLS, THE CHANNEL FRAMES BEING OF MUCH GREATER WIDTH THAN HEIGHT AND OF MUCH GREATER LENGTH THAN WIDTH, THE BOTTOM BEING PERFORATED AND HAVING AT LEAST 20% OF ITS AREA OPEN AND EACH OF THE SIDE WALLS HAVING AT LEAST ONE ROW OF PERFORATIONS THERETHROUGH, SOUND ABSORBING MATERIAL WITHIN THE CHANNEL IN POSITION TO ABSORB SOUND WAVES THAT ENTER THE CHANNEL THROUGH THE PERFORATIONS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE CHANNEL, THE SHEET MATERIAL OF THE BOTTOM OF THE CHANNEL EXTENDING HORIZONTALLY BEYOND THE SIDE WALLS OF THE CHANNEL AT BOTH SIDES THEREOF AND THEN EXTENDING BACK AGAIN IMMEDIATELY ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE BOTTOM AND 